Press Releases

 For Immediate Release

In press statements and a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the National Committee for the Commemoration of the 59^th Anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba explains: “On 15 May, Nakba Day, Palestinians renew their commitment to struggle against Israel's discriminatory, apartheid-like regime which prevents our return to our homes and properties, and continues to displace us. We affirm that that there can be no peace without our right to return.”

On 15 May, Palestinians from all over the occupied West Bank and Israel will gather in the town of Ramallah. Between 12:00 – 13:00, they will conduct a March of Return from the “Camp of the Nakba” near the PNA headquarters (Muqata'a) to the Manara Square in the town center, site of the closing rally. Mahmoud Abbas, chairman of the PLO, will address the Palestinian nation via TV and radio stations. A parallel rally will be held in the city of Gaza (Square of the Unknown Soldier, 11:00), and numerous activities will be organized by Palestinians in Arab host countries and beyond.  

The 59^th anniversary of the Nakba (catastrophe) marks the ethnic cleansing of major parts of Palestine in 1948, perpetrated in order to make room for the State of Israel. Millions of Palestinian refugees have since lived in exile, others are newly displaced as a result of Israel's 40 years-old occupation and colonization of the West Bank (including Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip, and the construction of its Wall – all in violation of international law.

Israel continues to deny the Palestinian Nakba and refugees' right of return. Israel's Jerusalem municipality launches official celebrations of the 40^th anniversary of the “liberation and unification of Jerusalem” on 15 May. This, while a courageous minority of Jews in Israel will conduct a concerted effort to remind Israelis that, in many respects, the Nakba is also the story of Jews who live in Israel, and that acknowledgment of the Palestinian right of return will not only be a first step towards  correcting the historical injustice committed against the Palestinian people, but will also usher in a new beginning for Jews in the country.

The scope of public involvement in the Nakba commemorations has been growing annually. Today they involve and unite Palestinians in Israel, the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip and in exile. The 2007 commemorations are coordinated by the National Committee, which includes the global Palestine Right-of-Return Coalition, the Council of National and Islamic Forces, the Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO) and the Union of Arab Community-based Organizations (Ittijah), the Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign, the National Coalition for the Defense of Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem, and the PLO Department for Refugee Affairs (DORA).

Press statements by the National Committee, and its letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, remind of the fact that western states and the United Nations share responsibility for the creation of the Palestinian Nakba and the refugee question, and are under the legal and moral obligation to ensure that Palestinian refugees can return to their homes and properties in accordance with international law and UN Resolution 194 (1948).

The Committee, moreover, demands from the United Nations and state members to abstain from statements and actions which maintain the illegal situation in Palestine, and to end the sanctions imposed on the occupied people. “Almost 60 years after our forced displacement, we encourage you to put pressure on the State of Israel, in order to end its occupation, colonization and apartheid-like regime over the Palestinian land and people, and to work for the return of the Palestinian refugees, so as to finally create the conditions for justice, peace and prosperity in our region.“

For more information about a variety of events organized in the framework of Nakba at 59 in Palestine and the exile, see: www.badil.org (in Arabic)

For information about activities of Israeli groups and organizations, see for example: www.NakbaInHebrew.org